


the last light

by epsiloneridani



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Order 66
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23941912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/pseuds/epsiloneridani
Summary: No one could have survived that fall.Cody and Obi-Wan. One final confrontation.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 266





	the last light

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings: character causing themselves harm
> 
> Translation: _Ner'vod, ratiin_ : My brother, always

No one could have survived that fall.

It’s a mantra like a prayer. The men are moving onto the ships that will take them back into orbit and then to their next station, but all CC-2224 can see is the cannon’s blast and Kenobi, plummeting to his end.

No one could have survived that fall.

He wants to walk toward the gunship. He wants to step into the troop bay and take hold of the overhead bar and signal the pilot to close the doors and leave this nightmare hell far behind. Kenobi is dead. The mission is done.

Good soldiers follow orders.

“Finish loading the men,” CC-2224 tells his lieutenant, and his mouth is moving and they’re his words but somehow, he didn’t choose them. He presses against the sick cold in his limbs. His chest is on fire and it should be hard to breathe, but his lungs pump in steady time with his steps. CC-2224 is moving back toward the peripheral landing platforms. They house smaller craft that the 212th won’t ever make use of.

But they would be perfect for a traitor looking to make his escape.

CC-2224 checks the first landing platform, then the second. Both are empty. The third is much the same. The fourth and fifth have transportation, but the ships are too large for Kenobi to consider stealing: they’d draw too much attention.

He sees the shadow at the sixth.

“Hold it right there,” CC-2224 says, stepping into the center of the corridor. He lifts his pistol and switches the safety off. His blaster is clipped to his back – too far. Not fast enough.

Kenobi comes to a stuttering stop. His robes are tattered and torn; his hair is plastered to his forehead. There’re thin streams of blood stained into his sleeves, as if he cut his hands climbing and let the thin rivulets run red down his arms.

For a long beat, neither of them moves.

“I don’t want to do this,” the traitor says. His hands twitch at his sides. His saber hangs on his belt, too close. In one movement, he could seize it and lunge and separate CC-2224’s head from his shoulders.

The traitor has the advantage. CC-2224 has to fire.

He has to fire.

His heart is in his throat. His eyes burn. _Blast him._

“Good soldiers follow orders,” CC-2224 says. His voice is even and flat. It feels rote, it feels right, but there’s a voice screaming in the back of his mind.

“Cody,” the Jedi says. His voice cracks.

Traitor.

“Good soldiers follow orders,” CC-2224 repeats. The words taste bitter on his tongue. He tightens his grip on his pistol. Fire, fire. “Good soldiers – follow orders.”

“Don’t ask me to do this,” the Jedi croaks. “Cody, please.”

Good soldiers follow orders.

“ _Cody_.”

Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders.

“It’s not you,” Kenobi says. “Look at me.”

CC-2224 turns his gaze to the piercing blue. Even at this distance, he can see the sheen of unshed tears. “You know me, Cody,” Kenobi presses. “Don’t do this.”

“You are a traitor to the Republic,” CC-2224 says coldly.

Incredulity flashes across the Jedi’s features. Kenobi’s hand falls to his hip and closes around his saber’s hilt. CC-2224 trembles. A wide smile. A warm voice. _I think you’ll be needing this_.

“I will not kill you,” Kenobi says lowly.

“Good soldiers follow orders,” CC-2224 says. It’s rote, it’s right. It has to be right. They’re not his words. “You are a traitor to the Republic.”

_When have I ever let you down?_

His finger trembles on the trigger. Fire, fire. He has to fire.

Kenobi is a traitor.

_When have I ever let you down?_

He’s shaking, CC-2224 realizes dimly. He can’t hold the pistol steady. Kenobi doesn’t move. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders.

Good soldiers follow orders.

“When have I ever let you down?” Cody whispers. His voice breaks. He wants to scream.

Fire, fire.

The barrel of the pistol turns, inch by agonizing inch.

Fire, fire.

“Cody,” Obi-Wan says, a warning and then a cry. “ _Don’t_ —”

Fire, fire.

He feels the impact like a blow to his ribs, then a ripping rage through his chest. The armor takes some of it, but the heat of the bolt sears at his bodysuit and then his skin until he can feel the seething red blisters burning their way to the surface.

He can’t breathe.

“ _Cody!_ ”

Kenobi’s face swims above him, a blurry haze. Good soldiers follow orders. Fire, fire. Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.

“Cody,” Obi-Wan says. Cody lifts a trembling hand. Kenobi clasps it tightly.

“The shot,” Cody rasps. His chest feels like it’s collapsing. It was just one shot. They’ll have heard the shot. Fire, fire. Traitor. Jedi.

Obi-Wan.

There are tears on Kenobi’s cheeks.

His arm is heavy. Cody raises it anyway and presses his palm to Obi-Wan’s chest. Traitor. Traitor. Jedi.

“ _Ner’vod_ ,” Cody chokes. Fire, fire. He has to fire. His fingers twitch violently. “ _Ratiin_.”

Obi-Wan shudders a breath. “ _Ner’vod, ratiin_ ,” he repeats hoarsely, and holds a hand over Cody’s. Through the sick stiffness twining its slow way back into his fingers, Cody can feel the racing pulse of Kenobi’s heart. He wants to say _I’m sorry_ but all he can manage past the welling cold is a single, gasped syllable.

“Run.”

For a long beat, neither of them moves. Then Obi-Wan takes another breath, squeezes his hand a final time, and lets go. Cody’s arm falls to his side. The world is spinning. The world is slow. Kenobi’s footsteps clatter down the corridor, a jarring echo in his ears until they fade away.

Good soldiers follow orders.

Cody’s breath comes in stuttering gasps. There are more footsteps, a whole squad of them, rushing toward him. Good soldiers follow orders. He didn’t stop the Jedi.

They should let him die.

“Commander!”

Cody blinks against the withering black. There’s a dark haze at the edges of his vision. His lungs are full of shattered glass. Every breath catches – and shudders – and struggles to a stop. _I’m sorry_.

“Commander, can you hear me?”

“Good soldiers follow orders,” Cody whispers. There are tears on his cheeks but his eyes are dry; there’s grief in his voice but it’s all just deafening silence. He can’t speak. He can’t move. He can’t even cry. The medics are frantic. Cody’s so cold. Every nerve is on fire.

He didn’t fire.

Beyond the corridor’s end, the sun is sinking low behind the cliffs. The sky is a burning crimson. His medic is a distant haze. Slowly, Cody’s mouth curves into a faint smile.

Kenobi is alive.

\--


End file.
